More on the Mexican Gun Canard
Don:
if you were a leader in a Mexican cartel with access to rifles, ammunition, grenades and RPG’s from Mexican military arsenals, M16 rifles and ammunition from scavengers all over South America who have old American military exports to sell on the cheap, and a dozen other sources . . . would you be sending people to gun shows in Tucson and Albuqurque (sic) to find someone with a clean background check to buy a few semi-automatic rifles and then try to smuggle them south?
April 1st, 2009 at 10:19 am
Well, finally someone in the Media is picking up on this.
For the record, US firearms companies do not produce RPGs, which as strictly Soviet era weapons produces by former Soviet states and not used by the US Military. ‘Machine guns’ are covered by the Firearms Control Act of 1934 that outlawed the civilian ownership of automatic weapons. I believe this also covered grenades. And yes, fully automatic weapons may only be owned by US citizens that have special Federal permits, the weapon’s serial numbers and ownership is registered with the BATFE, and locations are audited.
Look, if you were a Mexican Narco Terrorist, which would you prefer? A fully automatic AK47 for about $200, or a semi-automatic from the US for about $1,000? An M16 knock off from Brazil for $150, or a match grade AR15 semi-automatic for $1500?
As the writer suggests, these weapons are coming into Mexico not from the US, but from the International Black Market. Don’t forget they also buy armored vehicles, full sized machine guns that are operated by 3 – 5 men (called team manned weapons) and possibly even helicopters, but not gunships (yet).
Oh, and they also use alot of machetes and switchblades. Neither of which are even produced in the US anymore.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Ok this is getting annoying. I have had a 22 pistol on order for over 8 weeks now and still no sign of it arriving yet. The only way you can get a firearm these days is if you buy whats left on the shelves. How the hell are we shipping “thousands” of weapons from the USA when you can’t even get them? Ammo is back ordered for months, AR platforms the same. Come on a little comon sense would tell you that these are coming from the same suppliers as the drugs themselves.
No brainer here, just more BS for the press and the anti-gun loby.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Phenomenal to hear a clear voice from the media on the true source of these firearms. At last! Perfectly good point, Chris, re: back ordered ammo – absolutely!
April 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Eric – unless you mean that we don’t have any factories for machetes, in which case I can’t comment, I can assure you they’re only a stone’s throw away from any rural house. I can walk to a hardware store and buy a machete.